Seed by Ania Ahlborn (FIC Ahlborn)

Jack Winter seems to have left his troubled past behind. He has a wife and two young daughters, and if finances are a little tight and things aren’t exactly hunky dory with his in-laws, those seem like perfectly manageable issues compared to his dark and mysterious childhood. Then the accident happens. Something from Jack’s past steps onto a dark country road. His wife doesn’t see it, nor does his oldest daughter. But Jack sees it, and just before the car flips, so does his youngest daughter, Charlie.

The Winter family is never the same again. Jack realizes that, to protect his family from his own demons, he must confront something he’s been hiding from his entire adult life.

Seed is Ania Ahlborn’s first novel. It’s a tale of possession and haunting that spans generations, and it reads, probably more than any horror novel I’ve ever encountered, exactly like a horror movie—warts and all. It’s a fast paced, can’t-look-away page turner with a wonderfully spooky southern gothic setting, plenty of suspense, and a number of genuinely frightening scenes. But you will probably find a hole or two in the plot. And you will also find yourself thinking that no character would ever actually act that way in real life. And you will want to shout at the pages, “Don’t open that door,” or “Just get out of the house!” In my opinion none of those things is really an issue, and if you just want something quick and terrifying to read, you can hardly go wrong with Seed.